Bible Questions and Answers

Why were Adoni-Bezek's toes and thumbs cut off?

Judges 1:4-7 Then Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 And Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

According to the record Adonibezek in his reign had conquered 70 kings, kept them alive, but amputated their thumbs and big toes and fed them scraps of left-over food to humiliate them. Adoni-bezek was kept alive but his toes and thumbs were cut off in retribution for the way he had treated others. He acknowledged that he deserved it.

We might suppose that the men of Judah had in mind the Law given through Moses:

Leviticus 24:19-22 ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him— 20 ‘fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him… 22 'You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the LORD your God.’"

Jesus told his disciples:

Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I hope you find this helpful.

God bless,
Glenn